![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
seedarklyxeroWelcome to SeeDarkly Sunday DisCOVERies:
a weekly exploration of goth, industrial, & dark alternative cover songs!
First time here? Click here for details from first entry.
The weather is getting a little colder, so with that theme loosely in mind, how about some gritty synthpop gleaned shamelessly from eighties top 40? :
No.Not.Never - Cold Hearted (Paula Abdul)
Cold Hearted was the fifth single and third number one CHR hit from Paula Abdul's 1988 debut album, Forever Your Girl. The single, released in June 1989, was written by Elliot Wolff. Wolff, who was found dead in New Mexico's Santa Fe National Forest after having gone missing during a camping trip in June 2016, reportedly wrote the song by "getting into the mindset of a woman." He was also instrumental in coaching Abdul's fast-paced faux-rap delivery of the mid-song lyrics, a style she insisted she'd never be able to do. His advice to her: sound out only the vowels.
The video for the track was one of the most memorable of the time, in part because of Abdul's background in dance choreography which began with her career as a cheerleader for the LA Lakers. Abdul has said that the sexually charged scenario on scaffolding, directed by David Fincher, (hmm... where do I remember that name) was conceived as a tribute to Bob Fosse's 1979 film, All That Jazz, specifically drawing from the Take Off With Us scene where a dance ensemble presents an avant garde change to their developing Broadway production for its stuffy backers. (The scene itself appears to be some kind of hyper-sexualized airline promotion?)
Dependent Records released the eleventh of their Septic various artists compilations in September of 2010. It includes a cover of Cold Hearted by No.Not.Never, an electro/synthpop project helmed by music producer Gary Zon, who also operates under two other project names, Dismantled & Aerodrone. Zon has done another cover of Abdul's, (Straight Up as Dismantled,) so it's clear he's inspired by her in some way. He certainly feels no shame about it as his bio for Dismantled describes his work as "crossed boundaries, meshing everything from the pop of Paula Abdul to the grind of Nine Inch Nails..." No.Not.Never's only five-track EP released in 2007 was re-released in 2015 and now includes this cover.
Vocals on Cold Hearted were provided by his long-time friend and collaborator on all three projects, TZA, a.k.a. Tonya Pugh, who was also the frontwoman for her electronic rock band, PRGRM. Interestingly, her part-whispered/part-strained approach offers a much more creepy character but, whether by choice or perhaps because she wasn't offered Wolff's advice, the original's mid-song faux-rap was omitted.
Sadly, Pugh passed away in July this year, though it's not known precisely what happened. One account hinting that she'd potentially had mental breakdown claims that her death came the same day Zon publicly announced on Facebook that he was cutting all ties with her and ending their partnership. There appears to be no actual evidence of such a breakdown however, as her boyfriend reported that she was in good spirits and discussing plans for the future when she just abruptly collapsed and died with no warning and for no visible reason. Whatever bad blood there may have been between Zon and Pugh seems to have been dismissed quickly and Zon devoted his Patreon directly to a GoFundMe page built to help get her body home to her family in Oregon.
The short-lived No.Not.Never project may not be among the most influential or lucrative musical enterprises, but this is certainly a fun, dark, and dance-worthy cover None.The.Less.
The Cover:
https://garyzon.bandcamp.com/track/cold-hearted-paula-abdul-cover
The Original:
Next week:
The bells of the inspiration for next week's featured track sound outside many retailers this season. Those bells belonging to a supposedly charitable organization with a diminishing reputation due to questionable and discriminatory practices unbecoming the very spirit of the season in which their ideology was born.
Comments, suggestions, discussions, etc... welcome!
(You do NOT need a Dreamwidth account to comment, but all comments are screened for spam prevention.)
I've got two public gigs (and a private party) to spin in December. Check my schedule for details to the public affairs. The private? If you know... you know. ◕‿↼
Explore the darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Nov 19 - Alien Sex Fiend [as The Dynamic Duo] - Batman Theme (Neil Hefti)
Nov 12 - Inertia(w/Ayria) - Games Without Frontiers (Peter Gabriel)
Nov 05 - Rummelsnuff - Mongoloid (Devo)
Oct 29 - 5X5: Bonecollectors/Dead Brothers/Camping Car/Godhead/Pink Skulls - Bela Lugosi's Dead (Bauhaus)
Oct 22 - Strvngers - Pet Sematary (The Ramones)
Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies
a weekly exploration of goth, industrial, & dark alternative cover songs!
First time here? Click here for details from first entry.
The weather is getting a little colder, so with that theme loosely in mind, how about some gritty synthpop gleaned shamelessly from eighties top 40? :
No.Not.Never - Cold Hearted (Paula Abdul)
Cold Hearted was the fifth single and third number one CHR hit from Paula Abdul's 1988 debut album, Forever Your Girl. The single, released in June 1989, was written by Elliot Wolff. Wolff, who was found dead in New Mexico's Santa Fe National Forest after having gone missing during a camping trip in June 2016, reportedly wrote the song by "getting into the mindset of a woman." He was also instrumental in coaching Abdul's fast-paced faux-rap delivery of the mid-song lyrics, a style she insisted she'd never be able to do. His advice to her: sound out only the vowels.
The video for the track was one of the most memorable of the time, in part because of Abdul's background in dance choreography which began with her career as a cheerleader for the LA Lakers. Abdul has said that the sexually charged scenario on scaffolding, directed by David Fincher, (hmm... where do I remember that name) was conceived as a tribute to Bob Fosse's 1979 film, All That Jazz, specifically drawing from the Take Off With Us scene where a dance ensemble presents an avant garde change to their developing Broadway production for its stuffy backers. (The scene itself appears to be some kind of hyper-sexualized airline promotion?)
Dependent Records released the eleventh of their Septic various artists compilations in September of 2010. It includes a cover of Cold Hearted by No.Not.Never, an electro/synthpop project helmed by music producer Gary Zon, who also operates under two other project names, Dismantled & Aerodrone. Zon has done another cover of Abdul's, (Straight Up as Dismantled,) so it's clear he's inspired by her in some way. He certainly feels no shame about it as his bio for Dismantled describes his work as "crossed boundaries, meshing everything from the pop of Paula Abdul to the grind of Nine Inch Nails..." No.Not.Never's only five-track EP released in 2007 was re-released in 2015 and now includes this cover.
Vocals on Cold Hearted were provided by his long-time friend and collaborator on all three projects, TZA, a.k.a. Tonya Pugh, who was also the frontwoman for her electronic rock band, PRGRM. Interestingly, her part-whispered/part-strained approach offers a much more creepy character but, whether by choice or perhaps because she wasn't offered Wolff's advice, the original's mid-song faux-rap was omitted.
Sadly, Pugh passed away in July this year, though it's not known precisely what happened. One account hinting that she'd potentially had mental breakdown claims that her death came the same day Zon publicly announced on Facebook that he was cutting all ties with her and ending their partnership. There appears to be no actual evidence of such a breakdown however, as her boyfriend reported that she was in good spirits and discussing plans for the future when she just abruptly collapsed and died with no warning and for no visible reason. Whatever bad blood there may have been between Zon and Pugh seems to have been dismissed quickly and Zon devoted his Patreon directly to a GoFundMe page built to help get her body home to her family in Oregon.
The short-lived No.Not.Never project may not be among the most influential or lucrative musical enterprises, but this is certainly a fun, dark, and dance-worthy cover None.The.Less.
The Cover:
https://garyzon.bandcamp.com/track/cold-hearted-paula-abdul-cover
The Original:
Next week:
The bells of the inspiration for next week's featured track sound outside many retailers this season. Those bells belonging to a supposedly charitable organization with a diminishing reputation due to questionable and discriminatory practices unbecoming the very spirit of the season in which their ideology was born.
Comments, suggestions, discussions, etc... welcome!
(You do NOT need a Dreamwidth account to comment, but all comments are screened for spam prevention.)
I've got two public gigs (and a private party) to spin in December. Check my schedule for details to the public affairs. The private? If you know... you know. ◕‿↼
Explore the darkness,
-Xero
Previous DisCOVERies
Nov 19 - Alien Sex Fiend [as The Dynamic Duo] - Batman Theme (Neil Hefti)
Nov 12 - Inertia(w/Ayria) - Games Without Frontiers (Peter Gabriel)
Nov 05 - Rummelsnuff - Mongoloid (Devo)
Oct 29 - 5X5: Bonecollectors/Dead Brothers/Camping Car/Godhead/Pink Skulls - Bela Lugosi's Dead (Bauhaus)
Oct 22 - Strvngers - Pet Sematary (The Ramones)
Directory of All Previous DisCOVERies